Sunshine and Rainbows
by FeugoFox42
Summary: Why can't people just get along? Partially inspired by the massive debate about who gets Blake's heart in the show, see these four love and care for each other as one collective and romantic unit. Sunshine and Rainbows (4-way ship) Centric AU. Slightly one sided Ilia/Sun, will be explored in story at a later date.
1. S&R at the Fair

Hey guys!

So, in light of my suggestion on the RWBY Shipping Chart being accepted (yay, small achievements), I thought I'd publish a little something surrounding said suggestion.

This will be a sporadically updated thing as more and more ideas come into my head. As such, anything related to this story will be uploaded on a One-shot Monday as opposed to a Story upload Thursday. None of this will be in any order, but it is set within the same AU (post-Volume 5, no knowledge of Volume 6)

I'm also welcome to any ideas from you guys as well - this is new territory yet again for the site, so go nuts with it all. Just keep it T and under, for I cannot write anything even resembling smut. They won't be of a similar size either, they're just going to be whatever size they need to be, don't expect consistency in that regard.

With that said and out of the way, I hope y'all enjoy ' **Sunshine and Rainbows** '!

* * *

\- Chapter 1 -

Prompt: [ **S &R at the Fair**] by **FeugoFox42** (author) **  
**

* * *

"Why do we have to do this again?" the Chameleon Faunus asked, hugging her own arms in apprehension.

"Uh, because it's _awesome?_ "

"I'm with Ilia on this, I don't see why we need to go. You two can go and have fun without us."

"Nu-uh, not letting that happen again," Yang commented with a grin. The quartet were currently standing outside of the fairgrounds just on the edge of Vale city, a giant carnival of colours and entertainment that only came around to each of the four main Kingdoms once a year on an annual rota. This year was the first time that it had been five years since its last visit to Vale. And that was all thanks to the work of Ghira and Kali Belladonna, Blake's parents and former (now reinstated) Chieftain of the White Fang, getting the fair to go to Menagerie for the first time since its inception, and no one really complained… much.

Naturally there was going to be some backlash from those in Vale who had waited for the next arrival, only for it to be shipped to Menagerie last year. Equally, the support of the masses let the tradition continue without too much fuss, and all it meant was that it would circulate back around every _five_ years instead of four.

But when it came to Vale, it came back hard.

Having made its stop at Menagerie, there were a lot of local businesses in the cities and in the smaller towns on the island that wanted to be part of the fair, and the owners practically jumped at the opportunity to incorporate new stalls and ideas into their ever growing lineup of entertainment and food.

And now, there were apparently corners of the fair with delicacies only found in Kuo Kuana, and even on its second day here of 12 people were swamping the corner to get a taste.

And yet, despite all of the positivity going on especially concerning the Faunus culture, both Blake and Ilia were not that keen on entering.

"Besides, I remember last time we split off like this. We came back to find you two sucking faces like to lust fuelled vampires."

"Oh please like _you_ are any better with her," the freckled Faunus shot back, her eyes the first things to swap colour to a honey yellow, rivalling her onyx haired companion's eyes. "You never stop, even when we ask you to, and on more than one occasion Sun and I have had to pry you away from her."

"You're just jealous that it isn't you." At the comment, the Chameleon's eyes swapped back to their normal grey colour in an instant, all while her spots and freckles flushed to a strong pink colour, showing her embarrassment outwardly even if she was trying to hide it.

The Cat Faunus giggled at the sight, even after all this time it brought a smile to her face. "You betray yourself Ilia." Said Faunus turned away shyly, only glancing at the two from the side of her eyes. Doing his best to be the impartial party here, Sun walked up behind Ilia and wrapped her in a comforting hug, one she gladly melted into.

"You're lucky I like you, Monkey boy," she mumbled into his chest, "I never would have done this a year ago."

"I'll take it," he grinned back, planting a chaste kiss to her forehead, one that both Yang and Blake saw Ilia flinch at. "Now, you two need to hurry it up, else we're gonna miss everything."

"Sun," Blake sighed, relenting as she started walking towards the entrance, much to the blonde brawler behind her and the blond staff wielder in front's excitement, "the fair is sticking around for nearly two weeks, we won't miss anything."

"Yeah, but we can either go now, which we totally are, or we can put it off and put it off until _boom!_ It's gone and we won't get a chance to go there for a whole year."

"Must you shout in my ear?" the ponytailed girl asked with a wince.

"Oh, geez. Sorry Ilia, forgot you were there. You okay?" Her spots turned a more prominent tan as her skin darkened slightly to a red tinged hue, a sign of her frustration at him, but a fleeting one at that.

"Yeah," she said with a sigh, "I'm good. Just, try not to forget me again."

As a smirk grew on his face, he commented with, "like I'd ever forget someone as amazing as you on purpose." The four of them stayed close to one another as they entered the line to get into the fair. Once inside, the two blondes gave each other a glance and, with a nod that went unseen by the smaller two of the quartet, ran past them and stood in front, blocking the path.

"Right, BB and I are gonna go scout the place, see if we can find something for us all to do. You two can have a quick wander around and do the same, and we'll meet up at the main show area near the middle in 30 minutes."

"Yang, why couldn't you have done your scouting business before you dragged Ilia and I into this place?"

"Because I don't think you two would come quietly or without fuss, so getting you in here was the tricky part honestly."

"And this place is _huge,_ there's bound to be something here that you two'll enjoy." The blondes bumped fists and made their way deeper into the fairground.

"See you two soon. Oh, and Ilia?" The brown haired Faunus looked up at the wild haired blonde of their group. "IL-Ya!"

The Faunus smiled at her partner's stupid remark. It never failed to do so, and perfectly brought her out of her downhearted stated. "IL-Ya too, Yang." Lilac eyes locked onto grey and made everything seem worthwhile for the person attached to the grey pair before a blond tail tugged at the brawler's waist and spun her around to journey deeper into the fair. "What did I do to deserve such an amazing girlfriend?" she pondered out loud to herself.

As she slipped her hand into her partner's, Blake answered. "Probably had something to do with the fact you all love me so much."

"Yeah… that's the one." With a smile from each of them, they walked in the opposite direction to their blonde partners and just soaked in the atmosphere, subtly looking out for any place they may want to take the other two later on, provided they hadn't been dragged there by the more rambunctious ones first.

* * *

"Alright! So, what're we gonna do to get our girlfriends to enjoy today?" Sun asked, slightly too enthusiastically if Yang was honest. She also felt the need to correct him.

"'Girlfriend', Sun. Singular."

"Oops. Yeah, sorry. I'm still not used to it all." Yang felt that a hearty giggle was more than enough to convey how she was feeling. Sun even joined in when she continued on for longer than he thought she would.

"Trust me, getting used to using multiples to describe partners never gets easy, but when you're speaking about those two it ought to be a piece of cake."

"You'd think that, sure. But we're all together, so why aren't we _all_ together?" Yang slinked her arm around her boyfriend's waist and pulled him in as they continued walking, the girl taking note of a couple of places that caught her eye.

"You know how Ilia is, BB. She has her preference just as you, me and Blakey have ours. We can't change that, and if we're doing this then we all need to respect that. Who knows, she may start seeing you in a new light months down the line."

"I don't think she will, but if I can wait around for two days with nothing but small talk and glances with Blake, I can wait for Ilia to see how awesome I am."

"Gee, way to stroke your own ego there, banana breath." Sun responded with a slight shove, knocking out her walking rhythm. She responded with a push of slightly greater magnitude. He again upped the ante, causing her to stumble away from him as he laughed. If the Faunus wasn't busy holding onto his stomach laughing, he would have seen the sudden change in his blonde girlfriend's eyes from soft lilac to a piercing and fear inducing blood crimson, were the situation any different.

With a devilish smirk and a slight crack of her knuckles, she came up behind him and with a grunt of effort shoved him forwards hard. The boy flew a good 15 feet, crying in surprise as he did so, before landing on the ground with a skid that left a young man sized impression in the dirt. Other passers by gasped at the sight of someone being thrown to the ground in such a forceful manner, but Yang only saw the funny side.

"What's wrong Sun? Did ya trip or something?"

Were it not for the goofy grin plastered all over his face, when Sun got up and declared, "when I get my hands on you, you are _dead,_ Xiao Long!" there would have been a good few people intent on stopping him where he stood and escorting him to security and eventually off the premises. The buxom blonde stuck her tongue out in a taunt before hightailing it out of there as fast as she dared. "Oh, it's on now!" he said with a determined grin. With a kickflip back to his feet, he too started running.

Being a Huntress, Yang knew she was fast on her feet, especially in comparison to the Average Joe's that walked around day by day. Ruby was by and large the fastest person she knew, no quarrels there, Blake was certainly speedy as well, and Weiss was nimble on her feet too, even without Time Glyphs.

Thinking about it, she was the slowest member of Team RWBY. ' _I didn't want to be thinking that._ '

Even amongst the four of them here today, one of which had already been accounted for, Ilia could keep Blake on her toes in terms of speed. And Sun, while not necessarily faster than her, was definitely more agile than her and could thus close down a distance between them much faster than in the shoes were on the other foot and she had to chase him.

' _Great, now I realise I'm the slowest person out of my **relationship** as well…_'

Even with those two mental setbacks she had imposed on herself, the adrenaline rush of trying to get away from her boyfriend chasing her down was exhilarating, so much so that she was laughing through her heavy breaths as she ran. With every person that didn't immediately get out of her way at the sight of a blonde running full pelt at them, she weaved her way around them as best she could, doing her best to lose as little momentum and keep as much distance between her and Sun as possible - she knew it was only a matter of time before he caught her.

Coming to a fork in the path, she opted to turn left and head towards the fields over that side of Vale. If she was going to be caught, might as well make it away from everyone else. Seeing the wild mane of gold veering off to his left, the agile Monkey Faunus leapt up on top of the stalls and vendors to try and cut her off sooner, getting a few comments from the people in charge as he did so and making him apologise for every one of them he stood on. But when he saw where she was heading, the large field on the far side of the fairground with nobody around and a great view of the place, he cut his interception off short and hopped down to pursue on the ground once again.

Yang thought she'd managed to do quite well in holding this distance on him for so long, but once they were outside in the open field, the Faunus kicked things up to eleven. He started sprinting after her, having only been running before, and managed to reduce the distance to near zero in less than 12 seconds. With a jump, he managed to wrap his arms around her waist and bring her to the ground with him, a yelp of surprise coming from the blonde being chased.

"Finally gotcha!" he said, triumph in his voice as he spun Yang over to look him in his muted blue eyes.

"Yeah… ya did…" she puffed out in return, clearly having exhausted herself far more than he did even after his sprinting not even 20 seconds earlier, smiling all the while.

A soft and caring smile adorned Sun's face too as he stared into Yang's pools of lilac. "You're amazing Yang. I love you so much."

Cupping his cheeks, Yang replied, "I love ya too, Sun." And she brought his head down to kiss him. As much as both of them probably wanted to put as much fire and passion into their kisses, especially after being on such an adrenaline high and with no one around to stop them, breathing was still difficult for them after the run, and they had their partners to go meet up with. They broke it off and Yang pushed herself and Sun off the ground with ease. "C'mon, let's not keep the ladies waiting."

* * *

The two female Faunus went for a much more leisurely approach to their alone time. They simply walked around the fair in complete silence, taking note of what they wanted to individually do and on occasion speaking to the other about whether they wanted to have a go on something they saw instead.

By the time the 30 minutes were up, they'd amassed a decently sized list of things they wanted to do on their side of the fairgrounds and now they were waiting by the main arena as they were asked to do.

"I've never done this before," Ilia commented, looking out into the show area at the railings to see the act currently performing.

"What do you mean? Watching a performance like this?" her feline girlfriend asked.

"Coming to the fair," she clarified. Blake let out a sad, audible breath. Along with her partner in Yang and her Partner in Sun, the three of them were all aware of Ilia's troubled past. It was worse than Blake's was, and hers was never the peachiest of tales to tell as it was. She half expected something like this to happen, so to show her how much she cared for her and was listening to her, Blake took hold of the closest hand of her girlfriend and brought it up to her own lips, placing a gentle kiss on the back of the tan skinned girl's knuckles.

"You now how we do this dance by now; talk if you want to talk, stay silent if you don't, lean on me, don't."

"Thank you Blake. I wouldn't know what to do with myself half of the time if it wasn't for you three giving me the push."

"Ilia, we do what we do because we love you. Even Sun, and he is fully aware that you will never return his feelings in the same way." Blake smiled, warming the heart of the colour changing Faunus next to her as her skin shifted to fuchsia with purple spots, hair and eyes - the colour she turned whenever she felt loved and appreciated. "You know, I don't think I ever tell you enough how much I adore you when you turn this colour."

"Shut up," she replied, grin spread across her face. Blake just giggled back, placing another kiss on Ilia, only this time right on the freckles on her forehead as she faded back to her usual skin tone. "Remember when we were both back in the White Fang, and I told you about what happened to my parents?"

"How could I forget? I hadn't seen you open up to me like that before."

"Yeah…" the Chameleon chuckled. "That was the first time I tried to get you to notice me, through pity. It was such a silly and selfish thing to do looking back. We got closer, sure. But you and Adam got closer quicker."

"I'm glad I did."

"What?!" Ilia all but shouted, turning a couple of heads as her eyes turned honey yellow again, accompanied now by cadmium yellow freckles.

"Whoa, easy there Ilia. Just… calm down a little." The irritation from the ponytailed Faunus faded along with the colour in her eyes and freckles. "What I was going to say was that I'm glad I went with Adam, because if I didn't we would have _both_ still been trapped there." Ilia stared at her girlfriend, confused as to the analogy. "Okay, so let's say I noticed your advances and we started dating back in the White Fang. What happens then?"

"We continue on with our lives as we did back then."

"Yeah. Only now, rather than having the person he was falling for with him, she's with someone else. And because of his position in the White Fang, he can do something about it."

"Are you saying I couldn't have done something?"

"Of course not. I knew you then and I really know you know - you're driven, and would have done your best to make sure that nothing got to me because you cared so much for me."

"Still true."

Blake smiled at that, if only briefly, because she was aware that Ilia meant it. "But that would only give Adam more fuel to burn you with. He could send you of on a mission that takes you so far away that when you're back I'm already with him because of how long it took you. Or it'd be a suicide mission that he made sure you wouldn't return from. Or worst of all, he could have just outright killed you where you stood because you were standing in his way."

"Blake…" The Chameleon saw that her friend was on the cusp of tears, even through her own now brilliant blue eyes filled with tears.

"At this point in time, I'm _glad_ I went with Adam. Because now I'm in a much healthier relationship with not only the person who loved me back then, but two other people who are just so amazing to both me and to you that anything else seems like all the pain and hardship we both went through was worth it in the end. I wouldn't want to live in a world where I would have been happier with you sooner, because I have no doubt that wouldn't have survived."

Knowing only one accurate way to tell her how much that meant to her, Ilia closed the distance between them and kissed Blake fully on the lips. It lasted for a couple of seconds, but that was more than enough for them. "If I find out what you said was from _any_ of your smut books," the darker skinned Faunus warned as her tears dried, "I will burn them all and force you to watch."

"Not to my knowledge it's not," she responded. The pair got up to walk around a little bit more and get a better view of the show area that they had vaguely been paying attention to, but spotted their girlfriend and Blake's boyfriend approaching, so they went to join them.

"Hey girls, see anything you liked?" Yang asked once they were close enough.

"I'm not answering that question Yang, we all know you set that one up." The brawler shrugged.

"Meh, it'll work soon enough. But seriously though, did you get some ideas on where you wanna go?"

"We've seen a few things, yeah."

"Awesome!" Sun said, wrapping his arm around Blake and Yang whilst pulling Ilia in with his tail. "So, where're we going first?"

"Hopefully you two found somewhere with food nearby, 'cause we didn't, and I just realised that I am starving."

"Blake did spot somewhere that looked pretty enticing back that way," Ilia mentioned as she pointed off behind her.

The Cat Faunus nodded, shifting her weight that way so that the two blondes would catch on that this was the way they were going now. They realised, bringing a ghost of a smile to her face. "It has some really great dishes from back home on Menagerie, I really think you'd enjoy them Yang."

"Well, if you say so. C'mon then, let's eat!"

* * *

"Coming right up!" The owner of the vendor took their orders and went behind the partition they'd set up to start preparing the food for the four of them. They all sat around a single table, laughing and being merry with one another. Sun sat next to Blake and Yang, with Ilia perched on the chair directly opposite.

"Are you going to tell her at all?" Ilia asked, having heard the information.

"Hopefully. She was sweet to me back then, it's nice to seen her grown up."

"Remind me why we're at this one again, Kitten."

"Yang," said Faunus chastised as she shrunk in her seat slightly, " _please_ don't call me that out here."

"But you don't have your bow anymore," she answered, slightly perplexed at the response.

"Yes, but that's _our_ nickname. For when we talk _in private._ " The lilac eyed Huntress caught the memo, holding her hands up in apology and miming zipping her lips shut. "In answer to your question Yang, this stall reminds me of back home with my Mom and Dad. Back before the White Fang was so extreme and violent, we were peaceful in our methods. And back then, when my Mom was involved and Dad was Chieftain the first time around, we used to go down to the market every second Sunday. We went around every stall, and eventually came across one like this. I'd never had a meal like this before, and I loved it so much that we became regulars there. They knew our orders off by heart, and going there was almost like visiting family."

"What happened?" the Monkey asked, taking a sip from his drink.

"The White Fang radicalised," Ilia finished, knowing where the story was going. "They wanted action, so they upped their game. Peaceful protests for Faunus rights became raids and attacks. Billboards turned into bullets, and it brought in more people who wanted that sort of action… people like me."

Yang, ever the hugger, immediately pulled Ilia into an embrace. "It's all in the past, Ils. It made you who you are, but it doesn't control you anymore. I mean, look at this thing." She raised her right arm, letting the gold and black mechanical appendage shine in the early afternoon sunlight. "I refused to wear this for months because I was scared of it. It reminded me of what happened at Beacon, reminded me of… Adam." It was rare that Yang let her anger get to her about that situation, but every mention of the Bull Faunus from her brought crimson to her eyes and fire to her locks. "But now, it's part of me. It makes me me, even though it would never have made Yang three years ago her. We're two separate people, just like you and Ilia from a year ago are."

"Yang's right!" Sun added, missing the subtle hair flip and "naturally" coming from Yang as he spoke on, "you've got to not let what happened dictate who you are now. Be a new you, now with more us!" Of the four of them, Blake still held the title of the silent stoic one even if a lot of her Partners' jokes made her laugh. Ilia was still the shyest of the four, mostly down to the fact that she had known everyone for the least amount of time, Blake excluded, and was in a world unlike one she had ever been in before, one filled with love and acceptance. Even factoring in all of that, hearing the Mantle born girl laughing was always music to the other three's four pairs of ears.

"It's good to see you all having a good time here," came the sudden voice of the vendor from behind Sun.

"Yup! Even better now with food!" Yang said, cheeky grin over her face. The woman, someone of a small-ish build and frame with a giant Narwhal horn on her head that looked almost ridiculously proportioned on her, laughed too.

"I take it this one's the one with the appetite then?" she joked to the three other Faunus there. The other three uttered a "Yeah" in chorus, bringing the vendor to laughs again. "So, we've got two Regulars, a Spicy and a Tuna dish."

"Ah-"

"Not. A. Word." Blake hissed at her blonde partner.

"Enjoy guys!"

"Thank you. Oh, we didn't catch your name." The young woman, barely older than the four around the table, stopped and let out a small chuckle.

"Come on now Blake, I didn't forget _your_ name." The comment threw the feline Faunus through a loop as the horned girl went back to her duties.

"Well… that answers that question." As Blake still stared dumbfounded at the woman she knew, Sun took a bite out of his meal.

"This is amazing!" he said, forgetting he still had a mouth full of food. "I've never had something like this taste so good. C'mon, dig in!" Ilia and Yang heeded the Monkey Faunus' advice, and much like him were massively surprised at the taste. Blake sat and watched them all light up with amazement at the taste of their individual meals, even smirking at the sight of Yang puffing and getting a sweat on at her meal - she loved her spicy foods if she got a choice to have them and her semblance would help her negate a lot of the pain due to its nature, but this was hot even for her.

"Kirstan!" Blake called. The Narwhal girl looked back at their table to see the onyx haired girl staring right at her. Blake held a thumb up, showing her that the others loved the dishes. She appreciated that.

* * *

"A Laser Arcade?" she asked.

"Yeah. It's a big hit at the moment, and the cue's like three minutes long. Ruby and I used to go when we were younger, they're great fun!"

"You want the four of us to go into a large space where you run around in the dark shooting each other with lasers weapons for points?"

"Yeah!"

"With a girl who can turn her skin as dark as the night, someone like me who can disappear in a blink of an eye, and two people who could light up the entire place by slamming their hands together?"

"…Gonna be honest Blakey, didn't think of that."

"And three Faunus at that, all of whom have the ability to see just as clearly at night as they can in the day."

"Okay, okay, I get it," the brawler huffed. She folded her arms and swivelled away from the rest of the group, one was rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly and the other was looking at the building out of curiosity. It was an old shopping precinct with a few small shops in it that had been mostly gutted out. Now all the walls had been covered in neon paint and the glass had been covered up by large numbers of black fabric so that other people could still get a use of the area after the fair had gone. Inside looked completely dark, save for the neon lights everywhere that made everything glow. "Geez, you could've just said 'no', didn't have to hammer the point home."

"Who said that was me saying 'no'?" the amber eyed beauty teased, giving her girlfriend a polite pat on the rear, "I was just pointing out all the ways the three of us are going to beat you silly at this game." Hurt at the thought of the girl playing with her like that, Yang spun around to see a supremely smug looking girl looking back at her. "We wouldn't want you burning the place down when you lose."

"Don't you mean ' _if_ I lose'?"

"I know what I said."

"I'm gonna make you eat those words, Belladonna," Yang shot back again.

"Not yet you're not."

"Huh?"

"We've just eaten Yang," Ilia mentioned as she stepped into the conversation, "and as much as I want to give this a go, I don't want one or all of us puking up our meals from over exerting ourselves right after eating." Sun nodded in the background while the two girls that had hyped themselves up for a match had to come back down to reality and accept that yeah, they'd just eaten.

"Maybe later?" Yang inquired.

"Definitely later," Blake confirmed. Sun walked up between his two girlfriends again.

"So if we aren't doing this now, what're we gonna do instead?"

"Punching machine!" Yang pointed in childlike glee and running towards the vendor.

"Of course she'd find it…" Ilia commented as she walked past the other two towards their blonde, punch loving girlfriend. "And this place is huge as well."

"How much?"

"It's going to cost you 25 Lien per attempt, or 100 Lien for five."

"Sold!" she cried, slamming a 100 Lien card down on the table in front of her. "What's the prizes?"

"Hit over 500, small prize. 700 is a medium sized one. 900 nabs you a large prize. 999 points gets you the 1K Prize - 1,000 Lien and your money back, plus a large prize."

"Ooh~! This sounds perfect." She grinned with anticipation, walking back to her Partners looking super eager to win something. Meanwhile, the vendor made sure to keep a close eye on the dial at the back of the machine. "Alright, who's going first?"

"Ladies first?" Sun offered.

"Actually, I'd like to see you go first Sun," Blake counter-offered. Ilia agreed.

"Alright then." The Monkey stepped up to the plate, the three girls all cheering him on from the sidelines. The vendor turned the dial up to a 6, then pressed the button to release the ball for him to hit. "Let's do this." He pulled his right fist back as he braced with his left, then rocked forward with the swing. His knuckles made decent contact with the machine as it swung up into its place, the numbers climbing.

"400. 500. 600… 678." The girls cheered as the number finished climbing. "Congratulations buddy, you get a small prize." Sun took a tiny keychain with the Shade logo on it. "Which of you three wants to try next?"

"Let's give this a go." As Ilia walked up, the man dropped the dial down to 4 as he let the ball drop for her.

"You can do it, Ils!" Yang called. She wasn't too sure of herself, but if they believed in her… With a swing, she smacked the ball as hard as she could manage. "500. 600… 643. Small prize for you too, well done." She decided she wanted a little gold plastic bracelet that had 'Remnant Fair' written on it in white, colours that reminded her of her partners.

"My turn, I guess." The vendor simply pressed the button as Blake walked up, not thinking he would need to adjust the settings for her punch. ' _Just remember what Yang taught, and you'll get a good score._ ' She let her dominant foot slide back and the hand she was punching with remained ready to hit but not raised. She eased her breathing, feeling a natural rhythm taking hold. When she was ready, she rocked back slightly then pushed all of her weight forward through her hand with a grunt of effort, following it all with the momentum past where the punch landed. The numbers rose fast, peaking at a solid,

"790 points! Well done, take a pick of any medium prize." All the training she and Yang had done together was clearly paying off, and she'd have to thank her teammate for that one later.

"Who knew you had such a punch on ya, Blake," Sun praised.

"Well, I was taught by the best," she blushed as she leaned on Yang's shoulder, bringing a smile to the brawler's face.

"Aww, you're too kind. Now, sit back and watch how it's done." Yang cracked her knuckles and the one spot on her neck that was always irritating to get to, then stood waiting for the ball to drop for her. As soon is it did, she smirked and repeated the same process that Blake did, only with a less mechanical and more flowing movement as punching things were her bread and butter of fighting. A yell accompanied the smashing of fist against leather, and Yang felt massively accomplished to see the contraption shudder slightly under the force. She glanced up at the large prizes, choosing which one she wanted.

' _Let's see… Blake got a plushie Beowolf, so there'd be no point in getting that. But I **could** get one of the other giant Grimm toys. But which one would they all like so I don't feel bad for_-'

"351."

Yang was suddenly and abruptly pulled back to the real world, her eyes snapping to the machine. Yup, it wasn't just her imagination, it 100% said '351' on the scoreboard.

"WHAT?!"

"Sorry love, but it's what it says. Can't argue with it."

"I saw your whole damn contraption move, how could that have been less than what everybody else did?!" The man shrugged, not particularly caring for anything the blonde had to say. Yang stormed back to her Partners in a fuming rage, sans her glowing hair.

"What happened there?"

"Don't you see? I only got 350 points! I hit that thing way harder than any of you, I even shook it!" Yang continued on, ranting about whatever she could regarding the machine and its owner, while Blake eyed the man standing there. She didn't trust him, or this game.

"Yang, keep talking but listen to me. None of you touch me, I'm going to sneak around and see how this thing works." Still ranting on, the blonde nodded along with the other two Faunus. She handed off her plushie, then used her Semblance to dash towards the back of the machine, leaving an idle but identical looking Shadow Clone of herself in her wake.

' _What are you hiding?_ ' she thought to herself. Taking a good look at the inner workings of the game, she saw the little dial on the back. It was currently cranked right up to 10, causing the Cat Faunus to widen her eyes in shock and disgust at the trick he played. He clearly saw what Yang was like and probably (and accurately) guessed that she was the heavy-hitter of the group, so knocked it up to 10. Why? She couldn't guess - prove a point? Knock her down a peg or two? What it was doing was riling her up and making her doubt herself, and that was going to put her right back to where she said she was after she woke post-Fall of Beacon.

"Alright, have you got that out of your system?" Blake asked, having snuck back to the same spot as her Clone was in.

"Yeah," she huffed. Her voice dropped down to a whisper and she spoke now. "So what's the deal?"

"Difficulty dial. It was knocked right up to 10 with you."

"Filthy cheater. What's the game plan?"

A couple of minutes later, they had their game plan all set up and Blake stepped up to the plate once more, having been the only one of the four to even get close to a large prize. She prepared herself as she did before, and started to swing for the punch.

"Blake, wait!" Yang said, grabbing her left shoulder. Unfortunately, all that did was redirect the punch towards Yang and it clocked her right across the bridge of her nose. ' _Thank Oum for Aura,_ ' the brawler thought as she screamed in pain and collapsed to the floor, getting Ilia and Sun to rush over.

"Are you alright Yang? I'm so sorry, I didn't-"

"Blake, it's fine. I was just gonna ask if I could give it one more shot." The feline Faunus simply nodded once at the request.

"If you're up for it again, then by all means," the man said, subtly turning the dial back up to 10 having dropped it to a 7 for Blake. What he didn't know was that the whole deal with the punch was part of the plan.

"You asked for it." Now with a bit of extra juice and a reason to be angry, Yang slammed her fists together as her hair started glowing with fire and her eyes turned crimson.

"Oh crap," the man muttered as Yang took a slight running start. When she eventually took a swing at the machine, the whole thing more than shook like last time, it full on reared up and nearly got knocked over, scaring the owner. Alarms blared as the score read what it should have read the first time, 999.

"I believe you owe us some prizes," Yang told the vendor as she walked up to him, looming over his scared mass on the floor, her flowing locks still ablaze in anger.

* * *

As the four of them stood in line for the Ferris Wheel, Sun spinning his keychain around his forefinger and Yang lugging around Blake's Beowolf plushie, a nice 1,100 Lien that she won from the guy and her own giant cuddly Ursa toy (which she took mostly because it was the largest thing the guy running the punching machine had as a prize, but also because it was really cuddly for long nights when they had to sleep apart), Ilia mentioned something to the rest of the group.

"I know I'm not exactly the most versed in these kind of things, but isn't this like top of the list of cliché things to do for couples?"

"I dunno, why don't we ask Yang?" Sun quipped, "she's got the most experience out of all of us for dating."

"Okay, first: shut up," she began. "Second, I have never been to a fairground, let alone on a ferris wheel, with a significant other before. Third, you three literally make up half of my dating history. And fourth, shut up." There was a pregnant pause where no one said anything to anyone. "But yeah, it's pretty cliché for couples."

"Ha, so you _do_ know!"

"Just because I _know_ some of the cliché ideas for dates doesn't mean I've ever _done_ any of those cliché date ideas."

"And when you think about it," Blake added, jumping to her teammate's aid, "the only reason ideas become cliché is through their overuse. Which means that it clearly works."

"I guess…" the Chameleon admitted. "Then again, we aren't exactly 'couple material', are we? Not in the traditional sense."

"Wouldn't have it any other way," Sun affirmed as he wrapped his arm around her.

"Thanks Sun… now get off me." The muted blue eyed boy practically jumped back at the order from Ilia, a sight that was amusing to all parties involved, barring himself of course. The ride operator ushered the four of them into one of the 15 carriages that were available on the slow moving ride, then shut the door and gave them the brief safety rundown before moving on to the next lot of people for the next carriage.

As their small metal box rose higher and higher off the ground, Sun decided to break the silence of the four of them all cuddling up. "So, where should we go next?"

"I say we all go back to the Laser Shoot place - we've had our resting time, it's time for some action!"

"I want to just wander around a little bit more. It was nice at the start of the day when Blake and I did that, I want to do the same but with all four of us."

"See, I like that idea, but when we did that earlier we ended up chasing each other through a third of the park."

"Oh, so _that's_ why your hair was all messy when you caught up to us. We thought you two had used the excuse to go somewhere and get all frisky without us."

"We kissed once, I swear it! Tell 'em Yang!"

"I mean…" the brawler began with her classic 'I'm lying, I know you know I'm lying, but I want to play this up' grin on her face. "He's right," she relented, "one quick kiss in the fields, then straight on back to you two."

"Okay, I believe you. Ilia?"

The freckled Faunus smirked, "I'll trust your word for now."

"Thanks girls."

"Anyway, walk around the fairground - as in actually walking instead of chasing each other like a pair of horny teenagers," the blonde pair shrugged in unison, saying 'Well, aren't we?', "or head to the Laser Tag arena."

"How 'bout we flip for it?" Yang asked, pulling out a coin from her pocket, her coin. "Sun'll pick. If it comes up with what he wants, we pick. Otherwise, you pick."

"Sounds fair to me." The blonde tried her hardest not to smirk or laugh outside, but inside she was grinning like a tactical madwoman. She flipped the coin, catching it in her gloved left hand and slamming it down onto her metallic right.

' _This is perfect._ ' "Alright Sun; my coin, your choice. What'll it be?"

"Tails."

Yang's expression went from sunny and joyful to neutral and generally quite pissed off at the result. She slowly turned her head towards Sun and looked directly into his eyes, seeing if whether he was completely stupid or just chose to be at that very moment.

"It's heads," she confirmed as she lifted her hand up to reveal the face on the coin."

"Aw, nuts."

' _He doesn't even have a clue…_ ' she realised. "Well Blake, looks like you get to pick," she droned monotonously.

"If Ilia's okay with it, I say the Laser Tag." The Chameleon smiled, having wanted to go in there anyway.

"Yeah, that sounds good." Perplexed at the choice but not complaining, the blondes agreed and made a note to set a course for there straight after they were off the ride. "Besides, there's nothing saying we can't walk around afterwards." She made a very good point, one that settled the decision there and then. The ride came to a halt once again, this time with the quartet a single carriage move away from being dead centre of the wheel at the top.

Yang took the opportunity to get everyone together to ready for a group photo at the very top, one they happily complied with. Yang was at the front and left of the photo holding the camera. Behind her was Blake giving a peace sign, and Ilia to her right simply smiling, with Sun at the back of them all smiling at the camera as well. All four of them had moved so that they could also include their backdrop in the image and it came out really well. The sun had started making its descent, turning the sky an ever so slight shade of orange. All of that bathed the rest of the carnival behind in a rich glow that made the entire place almost seem magical to look at.

It was a sight that they wouldn't want to change for anything in the world.

* * *

Once the four of them were back on solid ground, they headed over to the Laser Tag building once more. To their surprise, the line was non-existent when they got there.

"Hi there, how much is it gonna be for the four of us?" Yang asked as they got there.

"Sorry kids, but unless you don't mind waiting for another eight people to join you, it looks like this'll be it for the night." The two people in charge of the thing, a grey haired man with a short beard and a short teal haired woman, were sat down and looking a little glum at the day. Clearly business wasn't great.

"Why can't just the four of us go in?" she asked again, not wanting this to be a wasted effort after they'd put it off earlier.

"Because we still have a quota to fill. Everytime we start this game, it costs us the price of admission for six and a half people. We need the twelve players so that we can afford to do this again and again for everyone." The buxom blonde's shoulders slumped. She really didn't want to have wasted so much time and effort into getting them all here to have this thing not be running because of lack of numbers.

"Yang, it's okay. We can come back another day and try again," Ilia offered. "It'll still be here."

"Listen to your friend, kid; we might as well close up shop for tonight-"

"How much is it per person?" she asked of them again, much more to the point than before.

"125 Lien per person." Yang got out 900 of her 1,000 Lien earnings from earlier that day at the punching machine and lay it on the table in front of her.

"There, that's my share and a share for the remaining six people you need, plus extra. C'mon guys, pay up and lets get in." Understandably hesitant at first, the three Faunus all pulled out 125 Lien from their pockets and gave it to the couple, Sun even throwing in an extra 25 Lien himself. The man stared at the woman next to him, who simply shrugged.

"Don't look at me, she paid you."

Inside the precinct's entrance inside, there was a large 12 x 12 tent set up with a bunch of vests with various sensors attached on one side and a rack with big black guns all holstered in them on the other.

"This is already looking to be awesome," Yang mentioned in awe of the gear they were adorning.

"It's great to see you enjoying yourself," Blake replied, sly grin on her face, "but you're still at a huge disadvantage, remember?"

"And?" the blonde shrugged back, "this'll be fun no matter what happens." Blake let out a small "hmm" before grabbing herself a vest and gun, slipping on a pair of LED covered gloves as well.

"Alright you four, since it's only you the briefing is going to be a little different." The man stepped out from behind a curtain, now sporting a bright neon orange jacket. "First and foremost, I am the marshall for this game. Whatever I say goes, and it is to not be questioned. When I let you in, you will each go to one of the seven starting locations inside the shops with your safeties on. I will call for safeties to be turned off, then give you a countdown from three. On go, you have ten minutes to get as many points as you can. Unlike normally where there would be teams, each separated by different coloured LEDs on your jackets and guns, your game will be a free-for-all with the same concept. Every shot on an enemy is worth 10 points, with the exception of hand shots, which are 5, and headshots, which are 20. Shooting the sensor on the end of another person's barrel is also 20 points.

"After every successful hit on you, your vest and gun will flash and make a sound, just like this." He fired his own small gun at the vest on the wall, making it come to life with noise. It was a crackly sound, and it almost reminded them of a game console startup sound. "Your weapon will become inactive for four seconds. In that time, you cannot shoot, nor can you be shot. Your best option is to flee. Once the flashing ceases, you are open again to attack and be attacked. There is a 0.5 second window where you can shoot but not be shot, so if you're good you can use that to your advantage.

"If I call 'Stop! Stop! Stop!', you will lower your weapons immediately and apply the safety feature on the right hand side, which prevents you from pulling the trigger and setting off the laser, especially into someone's eyes. Speaking of which, are any of you four Faunus?" Sun raised his hand immediately, and Blake did so with a little hesitation. Ilia did eventually, but only after a couple of encouraging words from her Feline girlfriend. "No need to be ashamed of it, if these are your friends then I don't need to worry about the discrimination talk I normally have. But anyway, I will provide each of you with goggles to minimise the immediate damage to your eyes.

"Yours," he handed Yang a pair, "have the slightest tint in them to do so. As for you three, they are fully tinted so that you will have the same experience of walking around in here in the near dark as the rest of us, whilst also providing protection from the lasers. Don't worry, all the neon will help make things easier, and it is all sprayed on corners and doorways so you shouldn't be walking into things." The blonde grinned as they were all handed their specialised eyewear.

"Well, would you _look_ at that?" she grinned, "now we're all on the same level."

"One more pun, and I will hunt you down and do nothing but shoot you," Ilia warned. She wasn't as acclimated to Yang's puns as the other two were, so she was still irritated by them greatly. Sun wasn't affected so much (only really showing disinterest when there was a pun overload) but Blake still was, even after all the time the couple spent together as teammates and more at Beacon. However, Blake was the best out of everyone at hiding her emotions, so the rage at the puns boiled on the inside.

"Really? 'cause I had a _sneaking_ suspicion that you were going to do that anyway." Ilia's freckles and eyes flashed yellow at her annoyance. She had found herself a target.

"As you can see, there is a little sensor in the middle of your goggles. That is the headshot spot, so it is much smaller than the rest, hence the 20 points. Now, in here," he pulled out a box with a small hole cut in the top, "has the name of all the shops in there where there is a starting zone. You will reach in and pull out a piece of paper, but you will not look at it until I say so. This will be your starting base. You can gain extra points by firing your laser at the sensor in the middle of the marked out starting zone, and it will turn your colour. That will keep on ticking and give whoever fired at it 10 points every 15 seconds, or 1 Tick. If you can find another starting zone, you can shoot that one as well and that one will start ticking for you too. Something may happen if you get all seven under your control." The mystery of that statement intrigued Blake and Ilia as the two more tactical ones of the quartet. "Is everyone ready?"

"Yeah!" cried Yang and Sun. Blake rolled her eyes and called out as well. Ilia's freckles turned pink in embarrassment before nodding.

"Then let's get you started. Put your hands in the box one at a time and pull out a starting zone." Ilia got first pick, then Sun, finishing up with Yang after Blake had gone between between the blondes. "Okay, open your paper but do not tell anyone or make any indication as to where you'll be." The four of them all did as they were told. "You all got your stores?" They nodded in affirmation. "Good. We will now head to the centre of the battle arena, dictated by the large white circle in the middle. Follow the white LED path dictated for you." The four of them did so, breaking into a military like jog towards the centre. The circle wasn't particularly bright, but the circle was noticeable enough.

"Alright, now look for your shop and make your way there," he instructed.

Yang found hers right away, a shop with the bright blue hairdressing sign "Blue Me Away". She broke into a giant grin at the pun. ' _My kinda shop._ '

Ilia's was right next to Yang's - not that either knew - the golden glow of the "Modern Air" clothing store battle against the shine of the blue next to it. ' _Fairly central, should make finding Yang pretty easy._ '

"Leatherback Club" was illuminated in purple, Sun thanking the Gods that he didn't have to go too far.

Whilst she didn't want to say that her choice of store was slightly ironic, when Blake spotted the library sign shining in the green that would be her colour for the match, she couldn't help but let out a small chuckle.

Again, not that any of the others knew, but Blake's store was the only one that had the entrance on the second floor of the small complex.

"Follow the LED path on the floor and get to your starting bases please. This will be the last time you see each other as friends during your time in here. On my command, you will remove your safeties and aim at the sensor. When I say so, pull the trigger. You will gain the colour of your base. When I finish the countdown and shout begin, shoot the sensor again to start building points. The next time you hear me will be at the end of your game. Understood?"

"Yes."

"Good. Everyone put your goggles on now; no cheating and looking for your opponents early. Go to your starting bases, you have 60 seconds." They split off, two going right, one going left and another going forward towards the stairs.

"Safeties off!" he called after the 60 seconds were up, each of the four in their starting positions. "Fire at the sensor." When they did their previously White LEDs turned the colour of the sensor they all shot; Blake's turned green, Yang's turned blue, Ilia's gold and Sun's purple. "Ready?" he called again.

"Ready!" Sun and Yang replied.

' _Way to give away your position Yang,_ ' Blake thought, hers and Ilia's silence meaning she was able to pinpoint not only her girlfriend's starting location in the blue zone, but also her boyfriend's in the purple.

"Three! Two! One! BEGIN!"

Yang rose from her kneeling position and bolted for the door of her zone. "Shit, sensor!" The blonde clumsily halted her run, coming to an almost comical halt hopping on one leg to stop herself just past the entrance, before turning around and jogging back to her zone to shoot the sensor in the centre. ' _There, now let's get these points a tickin'_ '.' Leaving the shop a second time she was suddenly aware of a firing sound from her right, followed by her vest and gun making a 'Hit' sound. She swivelled her head to see a smug looking Chameleon Faunus lowering her weapon after the shot.

"I told you I'd hunt you down," she threatened.

"Yeah? Well, two can play at that game," the blonde retorted, her LEDs still blinking from the hit.

"Like you'd ever be able to get hits on me."

"You wanna bet?"

"Yes, I do. Three headshots on me alone before the game is up."

"Alright then." There was a powering up sound from her gun, signalling that it could be fired again. The brawler brought the big box of wires and plastic up into a shoulder carried, aimed down the rudimentary sight and fired a single shot into the sensor on Ilia's forehead, just as Yang's own lights finished flashing. "That's one." She grinned cheekily as she leapt over boxes to get away from her girlfriend's inevitable wrath. As Yang crossed the playing field to the shops on the left she was struck with an attack as her lights began blinking again.

"'Sup," Sun greeted, dangling by his tail on one of the beams crossing between both sides of the upper deck. Ilia ran to cover where she could hopefully get some cover in the firefight, Yang did the same while Sun swung himself to the next pole.

Blake, meanwhile, was sneaking her way around and surveying the area, keeping an eye on her two partners on the ground floor and Sun hanging beneath the second floor. Every so often she would take a couple of shots at the other three to build up points. She hit a good couple of shots, especially in the firefight that they were all having where they wouldn't suspect that it was her doing the shooting and getting the points. But her main targets weren't occupied with one another.

Blake snuck her way into the red zone, a pharmacy, and found the sensor on the floor just as hers had been. She shot at it, turning it green. That was what she wanted to happen. What she didn't want was the small siren accompanied by ***RED ZONE TAKEN***

"So much for the sneaky approach," the Cat thought to herself as she ran out of there, still trying to keep a low profile.

"Gotcha!" came the triumphant call of Yang as she landed a shot to Ilia's hand, making her inactive for a few seconds, the Faunus cursing at the fact. That was just the cue she needed to hightail it out of there to save them from being locked in a standstill for their entire game. ***RED ZONE TAKEN*** blared from above them, and lilac eyes spotted the mass of dark hair bobbing just behind the railings up top. With another smirk, she ran to the staircase leading up, covering her escape with shots to stop Sun from hitting her or Ilia from getting her back.

The heavy footsteps of Yang climbing the stairs alerted her to the fact she wasn't alone, but the sudden shot that connected with her jacket as she spun to do the same reminded her that this was a free-for-all, and that being stealthy wasn't exactly going to win her anything.

"Thought you could hide?" the lilac eyed beauty taunted.

"That was kind of the plan. Why did you have to go and ruin the fun?"

"I came here for the four of us to run around and have fun. Doing the whole 'Sexy Cat Burglar' thing now really isn't what I-" the sound of her getting shot in the head rang out, her monologuing distracting her long enough for Blake to pop her head out and shoot her before running. "Now that was uncalled for."

The Cat Faunus weaved her way through the stands in the pharmacy she ducked into, the luminous red glow of every object's edge in the neon light helpful for navigation with the new hindrance of the goggles.

Being like this was so weird for her; she had spent years of her life using her natural night vision for many things. She used it for pantry raids at home (though having parents who also shared the blessing of natural night vision made it trickier), for reading her books past lights out, or for actual raids with the White Fang. She became so used to it that the gift as it were was taken for granted. It was her norm, and to have that stripped away was such a harsh reality shift for her, and probably for Ilia and Sun too.

But despite Yang's horrendous pun regarding it, it did put them all on a level playing field.

"As much as I'd want to go back out and start shooting at both Sun and Ilia again, I know your game plan now Blakey." The pet name had no malice behind it, and Blake honestly didn't care that Yang used one for her - at least it was better than 'My Love'… she got shivers even thinking about the way he said it - but in context, she was using it because she was aware Blake reacted to it. "You're planning to get all the zones ticking away in your favour. Nice trick, but it's clear someone already thought of that and added the crazy loud alarm system."

 ***PINK ZONE TAKEN***

"Yeah, like that."

' _Smart play Yang,_ ' Blake thought as she listened to her ramble on from afar. ' _Seems our time as partners hasn't been wasted then._ ' "The thing is," she said as she took a shot, striking her blonde partner in the back sensor, forcing her to spin around, "I'm _way_ sneakier than you." Yang's mind was clearly working hard to try and comprehend how Blake managed to sneak out behind her, capture the Pink Zone (because the brawler was unaware that it was Blake's capture and not either Sun's or Ilia's) and take a shot at her from the doorway.

"How in the-?"

"'Sexy Cat Burglar', duh." She blew her girlfriend a quick kiss, then used her semblance to vanish out of sight. Yang made chase, foregoing the idea of claiming the Red Zone as her own.

Sun's tactical prowess when it came to one-on-one bouts of fists and weapons was exceptional. He knew himself and knew what he could and couldn't do, especially with the aid of him semblance. In situations like this though, where he was without his weapon and where using his semblance would be a hindrance rather than an aid, he struggled.

He knew he was the least experienced in this sort of field of stealth of them all. Blake and Ilia were masters of their own style, so much so that he'd been hit about four times in the past 30 seconds or so without knowing where from, even with the bright glowing lights of their vests making each of them a bright beacon saying "Hit Me!". He could only guess it was mostly Ilia shooting him, because he hadn't actually seen Blake this entire time, and he and Ilia had been in a pretty heated back and forth as is.

Yang can be surprisingly stealthy when she needed to be. Sun chalked it up her having done this in the past and knowing that sometimes all guns blazing wasn't the best strategy in a dark room coloured in neon lights. Also because if she got too angry in here she'd start to glow like the sun.

But lacking the stealth factor meant he had to trump them all in other ways. And he figured out how after glancing up and seeing he was under the gold "Modern Air" sign. He ran inside, hoping he wasn't spotted. Yang did see him go in, so she found the quickest way down and made her way towards the clothes store to battle her friend.

 ***BLUE ZONE TAKEN***

"Oh, you bitch…" she cursed out loud. Go after Sun, or find whoever took her home base? Sun, it would be a better fight anyway. Before she moved, a mass of darkness ran past her vision on the left. She spun and took a few shots, just so happening to hit Ilia's head sensor out of sheer dumb luck as the Faunus turned to see where the shots were coming from and who they were aiming at. "That's two!~" she sang as she entered the golden shop, the ponytailed girl cursing herself and her girlfriend.

 ***GOLD ZONE TAKEN*** rang out as Sun shot the sensor. Then, carrying the gun as best he could with a single hand, he slammed his own hands together to create two Via Sun clones. The glowing duplicates, somewhat masked by the golden glow of the zone around him, hoisted their host up and got him on top of a large shelving unit near the back of the shop, almost completely hiding his neon lights from view. From where he was he could practically see the entirety of the Gold Zone, as well at the entrance to the Pink Zone and part of the central battleground outside. No one would be sneaking up on him now. Speaking of which…

"BB~. C'mon out BB, I just wanna play." The brawler was making her way through the Gold Zone slowly and methodically, checking everywhere for a sign of the tall Faunus boy she knew came in here. A single shot rang out, striking Yang in the chest.

Her first instinct was to duck, but when she thought about it, it meant he had to have been in here and somewhere in front of her. So whilst she was invulnerable and incapable of attacking back either, she ran as fast as she could to the other end of the shop. Keeping her eyes trained level and up, she couldn't see anything immediately. If she waited it out, he may take another shot that would tell her where-

"Found you Sun!" Ilia called from the doorway, firing shots to the far left corner and striking Sun's forehead. The one sensor he couldn't hide, lest be called out for cheating, made his entire get up make noise, almost masking a call of "Three minutes remaining!" from the marshall and ***ORANGE ZONE TAKEN***.

"Thanks Ils!"

"This doesn't make us allies."

"Oh, alright then." Yang took aim at the Chameleon once again, but Ilia had grown wise. Chancing a dive, she jumped down inside the shop, landing with a roll to behind cover. It only hurt a little.

The three of them waited. Sun was nearly ready to re-engage from his high-ground vantage spot, Ilia had two people directly opposite her so she was outnumbered on that front, and Yang wasn't the best aim even if she was quick, so she'd have a small amount of time to do anything before she was inevitably hit by one of the better shots of the three.

 ***PURPLE ZONE TAKEN***

"Alright then," Yang offered, "how about this. Blake's going for a monopoly on the zones, and she has six. The only one we know she doesn't have is Gold. How about a truce so that we can keep her from doing that?"

"And how can I trust you to do that?" Ilia said, still behind cover out of Yang's way, but slowly creeping forward as silently as she could so that she'd have the element of surprise when she attacked. Well, " _if_ she attacked" with the way this conversation was going.

"Because I am a competitive person, but even I know when to seek a common enemy for the greater good." Ilia heard Sun drop down from his hiding spot - it had to be him with those large feet of his - and make his way up to Yang.

"I'm in, partner."

"Thanks BB."

"How about it, Ilia; wanna join the winning side of this war?" By this point the Chameleon Faunus had crept her way right next to Yang and Sun, and from her vantage spot she could see them still looking out near the entrance for her. After a small, defeated sigh, she let go of her semblance and her skin faded back to tan from the stealthy near black she sported. The two blondes were shocked to see her appear that close to her, but welcomed her into the winners' huddle.

"Right, so what's the plan?"

"I thought you had a plan, that's why I joined you."

"Right. So… uh…" Yang was stumped, and not just because she had one arm. She wasn't a person for creating tactics and plans. But, when needs must. "Well, Blake needs to get to the sensor, yeah? So we need to stop her from doing that. Guard the entrance with two of us, then have the third on guard from by the sensor itself so that she can't get to it."

"Sounds good," Sun answered.

Ilia wasn't as convinced, but for the sake of time and amiability, agreed to the terms as well.

"One minute remaining!"

"Great! Sun, you go to the door. Ilia, go there too, but a bit further back. I'll stay here on guard for Blake. We've not got long to defend, we can do this!"

"Why are you staying by the sensor?" The Chameleon didn't trust her girlfriend, she wasn't the best at tactics, but she could be crafty when she needed to, and this was a prime opportunity to be as such. "What's to stop you from shooting it and gaining points yourself? I'd rather stay by the sensor."

"'Fraid not Ils, I wanna be able to see you." ' _So that I can shoot you,_ ' she added to herself.

"What, so that you can shoot me?"

"Fine, you go front, I'll go middle, Sun at the back?"

"That still has me in front of you. We're going to need me in the middle Yang, and putting you at the front would be bet-"

"Alright!" she called, holding her hands up. She pointed to the Monkey Faunus, "Sun stays by the sensor," to herself, "I'll take point," to the Chameleon Faunus, "Ilia will take the middle," to the Cat Faunus, "and Blake, we'll try and stop yo- wait, what?!" The feline girl smiled sweetly, then spun and fired her weapon at the sensor.

 ***GOLD ZONE TAKEN***

"Stop the game!" the marshall called, "everyone to the centre!" Blake walked past everyone with a smirk on her face, one no one could see due to the lighting, swaying her hips with every step and catching the eyes of all three people behind her behind. Ilia felt her freckles turning pink as she followed. "Congratulations Green Team, you successfully managed to capture all seven control zones. As such you are awarded a bonus 500 points for completing the task, the first one we have given out during this year's fair. Now, let's see what the points are like, shall we?"

"Before we go back, can you snap a quick photo of us?" Yang asked as politely as she could through her slight panting, she did tire herself a smidge with all the running around she did when she need to, and she was forceful earlier to him, so being nicer now balanced it all out.

"Sure thing. Normally I don't, but it's just you four I need to worry about, and you all seem sensible enough." He took the Scroll, waited for them to pose, and hit the button.

* * *

"I've gotta say, getting that call would be pretty neat."

"I'm not too fussed about getting it," Blake admitted.

"Are you kidding? That'd be awesome!"

"Sun, as much as you may think so, I don't exactly want my name put on the wall for all to see." The Monkey Faunus looked a little downhearted as the pair of them made their way out of the fair hand in hand, Ilia and Yang only a couple of steps in front of them. "But, it would give me another reason to rub my victory in your faces."

"I heard that!" Yang said, spinning her head slightly to glance at her girlfriend.

"I'm surprised you were listening to me, I wasn't talking to you," the Cat shot back playfully. "And besides, you lost twice with that game, so I don't think you're in a position to be getting sassy."

"Says the girl sassing _me_ ," the blonde grumbled as she continued walking. Ilia looked back at Blake and smiled. She hadn't decided what she was going to do regarding Yang's lost bet, but it was going to be fun for at least two of them - Blake always felt some sort of weird joy in watching Yang suffer.

The day was a huge success, everyone had fun, they won things for themselves and for others, and the four of them looked forward to a nice evening where they could relax and unwind in each others' company.

* * *

For those who were curious, the scores (with only 4 people in the game, Blake's strategy was definitely the way to go)

A reminder:  
1 Tick = 10 points per 15 seconds of game time (up to 40 Ticks per game)  
Hand shot = 5 points each  
Body shot = 10 points each  
Headshot and Gun barrel shot = 20 points each

 **Blake - 2,135 points  
** Blake got 143 Ticks of points that game [the full 40 for Green Zone, 33 for Red, 30 for Pink, 20 for Blue, 12 for Orange, 7 for Purple and 1 Tick for Gold in the last few seconds of the game]. She hit 1 Hand shot, 7 Body shots, 5 Headshots, and was the only person to land a shot to the little sensor on the barrel. On top of that, she got a bonus 500 points for capturing all 7 Zones.

 **Ilia - 545 points**  
Ilia kept ahold of Gold Zone for 21 Ticks before Sun took it away. She hit 3 Hand sensors, 28 Body sensors and 4 sensors on Heads.

 **Yang - 510 points**  
Forgetting to shoot the sensor at the start meant Yang only got 19 Ticks of points before Blake stole it at the halfway mark. She made 2 shots to the Hands, 25 to Bodies and 3 to Heads, but only 2 of those were to Ilia, so she lost that bet.

 **Sun - 740 points  
** No one touched his base in the Purple Zone for 33 Ticks. He also got 18 Ticks from the Gold Zone after taking that from Ilia. With no Hand shots, he hit 19 Body shots and 2 Headshots.

* * *

Phew! How about **_that,_** huh? I didn't expect this one to grow as it did, but ideas kept coming from this single prompt I gave myself, [ **S &R at the fair**]. Excluding an A/N (including the scoreboard at the bottom), this piece is over 12,000 words long. Count yourselves lucky, I've _**never**_ done that before!

I hope y'all enjoyed this first bit of writing for ' **Sunshine and Rainbows** ', expect more... after this. Like I said, I'll write when I get idea or prompts from people, and it may be a small chapter, it may be a goliath like this one, who knows?

As always, feedback - good or bad - is most appreciated


	2. S&R vs Beast from the East

\- Chapter 2 -

Prompt: [ **S &R vs. Beast from the East**] by **FeugoFox42** (author)  
Inspired by the bout of extremely cold weather (for Britain) that turned up with little to no warning

* * *

 _"_ _Lisa Lavender here with the local news. Scientists at the Solitas Centre for Weather have reported that a strange mass of cold air is advancing on parts of Vale over the next few days, likely causing a drop in temperature for those affected. They said that this was only a single calculation, so no evidence is set in stone, but they-"_ The screen cut off as Yang clicked the button on the remote, bringing the normal view back as opposed to the holographic blue that hung around whenever the Holo Screen was active.

"Why did you do that?" Blake groaned as she leaned against her girlfriend, the pair snuggling close together on the floor of their room.

"Why are _you_ doing _that?_ " Weiss countered. Even now everything had blown over and things were somewhat back to normal, Team RWBY were still sharing a room, mostly to make up for a lot of lost time between the Fall of Beacon and the Battle of Haven.

"And what is wrong with what we're doing Weiss?" the blonde asked, sending a glare her way. The alabaster haired ex-Heiress faltered on seeing a menacing lilac stare directed solely at her. If Weiss was being completely honest, as terrifying getting stared down by Yang's crimson eyed death stare was, she found the sight of Yang's normal lilac eyes giving her the same treatment all the more frightening. Seeing the hot-headed blonde angry whilst still reigning in her renowned semblance showed how in control she was, and subsequently how bad things could get if allowed to escalate and those reins to be dropped.

"I… it's nothing Yang. Honestly." She sighed, relaxing where she sat. "You should know by now that with me growing up in Atlas as one of the children of a high profile family made me feel and say things almost on impulse. This was one such time. I have no qualms with yours and Blake's relationships."

"I should hope not," Blake added, "we wouldn't want rifts opening when we've just patched them up." Ice blue eyes locked with pools of amber.

"Please tell me you are not pulling the 'Faunus Card' on me _again;_ there's only so many times that'll work."

"I'm not," the resident ninja assured.

As a small smile grew on her face, Yang buried her head in the crook of her girlfriend's neck and whispered a barely audible (for Weiss) "Liar." Blake simply laughed, neither confirming nor denying whether Yang's statement was true or not.

"It still confuses me though," Ruby, having been sat in a contest silence (admittedly reading comics), added after removing her headphones. "Like, the whole dating thing is one thing, but dating three people at once, who are also all dating three other people, who just so happen to be the three people you're dating - it's messy."

"You'll grasp it one day Rubes," her sister said, "it's not exactly the easiest of relationships to explain."

"Even if we have already done so twice already."

"Yeah… Sorry."

"Pssh, it's fine. Don't let us stop you from loving each other." The team's Faunus smiled at the youngest member of the team. Ruby always was easy to forgive and accept, no matter what they did before.

"Thank you Ruby."

"Now," Yang said with a clap, "what say you to heading out and seeing our beautiful partners?"

"A good idea, says I," Blake replied with a giggle.

"…This relationship somehow made you two even weirder," Weiss admitted, the smallest of smiles on her face to show that she said that in jest.

* * *

Sun walked along the path, hands in his pocket, idly whistling a simple tune every now and again to break the silence they were in.

"Y'know, I bet there's a lot of places you'd really enjoy in Vale if you came out with us more," he commented, trying to break the ice once again.

"Sun, please," she begged, "I know why you're doing this." She sighed. "We work well as friends, and that's how I think we should continue. This is something that's very easy to sort out-"

"And yet here we are."

"That's not what I meant," she snapped, taking the Monkey Faunus by surprise.

"Geez, I'm only trying to help us all." Realising what she'd done, the Chameleon apologised and returned them both to the slightly uncomfortable silence they were in before. That was, until their Scrolls pinged. "Speaking of. Huh, seems they've gotten bored of team bonding. You joining us?"

"Why wouldn't I?"

"Clubs," he answered immediately and straight faced. Not normally one to concede when proven wrong, she folded her arms and looked away from the blond boy at her side, her defeat radiating off her like a brightly coloured skin.

Both of the Faunus headed towards the newly refurbished Beacon, where RWBY and the rest of the ex-students returned, to hopefully meet up with their partners in the middle. Sure enough, the non Beacon students ran into them outside one of the small privately owned coffee shops on Vale high street.

Yang, being Yang, was sporting a t-shirt and a pair of raw denim jeans that were cover at the bottom by a pair of practical yet stylish brown leather boots, along with an open dark jacket. Blake, on the other hand, had a black beanie over her head (mostly for her ears), one of Yang's orange scarves around her neck, a maroon jacket with a fluffy inner hood that hid a thick checked shirt, and a pair of thick trousers to keep her legs warm, along with some boots to do the same.

"How are you walking around in a t-shirt?" Ilia commented on seeing her girlfriend.

"Nice to see you too Ilia, I've been doing good," Yang shot back.

"I was getting to that."

"Well, my semblance basically makes me into a portable space heater, so the cold never bothers me much." After easing her mind on the why, Ilia eventually greeted Yang properly, much to the blonde amusement, a joke Ilia eventually started laughing along to as well. Neither Sun or Blake minded that those two had split off and talk amongst themselves, so they remained to one side and discussed things without the input of the other two.

"It's nice to see them getting along," Sun said, observing the two girls talking and laughing, hugging each other and even kissing on one occasion.

"Agreed. Ilia was always reserved, even with me back in the White Fang. Seeing her like this is refreshing."

"Yeah, Yang'll do that to ya." His eyes widened as he saw Yang making Ilia flush fuchsia, the colour she turns when she was loved and appreciated, in public. Even though it was for just a split second, it was a massive achievement to see her being so expressive with her Faunus trait, and also to have someone like Yang - a human no less (not that any of them looked down on her for being one) - being the cause. "Everyone needs a Yang in their lives."

"Yeah…" the bookworm sighed contently.

"I mean, she just seems to know what to do _all the time,_ it's scary how she does it."

"I think I'd associate it with being Ruby's guardian from a young age. She had to grow up fast and be her Mom in a world where her own left and Ruby's passed away, so these were skills she needed to learn." Blake smiled again, it was amazing how easily they all could make her smile, but none more so than Yang. "I think she's doing alright."

"Are you kidding me?! She's doing amazing! I wish I could do that."

"Don't sell yourself short; you did wonders back when… when I ran away in my first semester." As much as Blake had grown up and matured in the time since she joined Beacon's student body, her previous bouts of fleeing from the problem at hand still plagued her.

"Sometimes all you need is a friendly face."

"And oh, what a friendly face it turned out to be." They leaned in for a quick kiss, smiling as they did so.

"This a private party, or can anyone join in?" a familiar Patch born blonde inquired.

"Invite only," Sun quipped back after backing away from Blake, "if you two want access we're going to need to see your IDs."

"There DDs," Yang shot back with a devilish smirk as she slipped her jacket off her shoulders, "but I know your type. Sure thing!" She was way too enthusiastic about the prospect as she crossed her arms below her and grabbed the hem of the t-shirt. Sun and Ilia both flushed pink and grabbed her arms to stop her from doing what they knew she would very happily do, struggling to keep her arms down. She was physically the strongest of them all, so it was definitely a challenge to win out against her.

"What are you thinking?!" the ex White Fang spy demanded through gritted teeth.

"That these two need to work on their wording."

"I thought we were going to enjoy this day, y'know. Not spend half of it running from the cops. I had enough of that when I first came to this place." Sun even shuddered at the memory of running from those cops for a good couple of days before they eventually got so behind on work that they had to leave him alone.

"What's wrong with what I did? I was just doing what you asked me to do."

Playing to her stereotype of a dumb blonde frustrated Ilia to the point of a complete colour change to hazard yellow hair, eyes and spots and vibrant red skin. "It was a joke! You don't have to use that as an excuse to-" Her spots turned pink, even if the rest of her remained yellow and red. "-to flash your goods to the world."

"Aw, what's wrong Ils? Are you ashamed of me? Or jealous at the world because these are only meant for us, not them?"

All Yang got back was spluttering. "Could you _please_ stop trying to show everyone your boobs? I mean, you're not even this bad after drinks!" Sun mentioned.

"Well, at least _one_ of you has the right idea." Sun just went 'huh?' and Ilia raised an eyebrow. Failing to get their brains working on the same level as her, Yang nodded her head towards Blake, who stood opposite them with a sly smile on her face.

"Don't let me stop you."

"Maidens help me…" Ilia muttered, her skin turning a muted blue-grey and her hair, spots and even eye colour shifting to a faded beige out of fear. Yang's reaction was to smirk and glance at her ravenette girlfriend, who winked at her. Yang winked back.

* * *

 _"_ _Tina Tetley, reporting from North-Eastern Vale this morning where sudden heavy snowfall has driven part of the kingdom to a complete standstill. Most people are blaming the sudden cold air front that advanced from Solitas a few days ago, combined with a cold wind from Vale's Southern Regions. The weather is only expected to worsen as the days go on."_ Ilia left her Scroll on, listening to the broadcast as she did her stretches. Mornings, especially the ones where she was still waking up alone, were never her favourite time of day. Hearing a report like that when she was trying to ease herself into the day in a nice relaxing way had exactly the inverse effect on her.

' _How am I supposed to do anything around here if we get shut in by snow?_ ' she thought to herself as she leaned across to stretch the muscles in her lower back and arm. ' _Yang wanted to meet up again today, but would she want to in this weather?_ ' As if on cue, the broadcast quietened as a notification sound rang over the top of it. The Chameleon Faunus finished stretching and padded over to the device, her body glowing slightly with a thin layer of sweat because of the heating being knocked up to a higher level to combat the chill in the air - a solution she knew was only a temporary fix, and one she normally rectified before she left to go out for the day.

Sure enough, it was a message from Yang.

 **blondefireballin: 'hey ils, u still up 4 l8r? x'**

"How did I manage to start deciphering your messages?" she thought to herself out loud as she typed up a reply.

 **triple_rainbow: 'I thought you wouldn't have wanted to go out. The weather doesn't seem up your alley. x'**

 **blondefireballin: 'im a patch girl, sure, but i don't mind the cold'** **  
'plus im pretty sure u can find a way to warm me up ;) xx'**

 **triple_rainbow: 'Gross. I'll see you later then. Same time as we agreed? x'**

 **blondefireballin: 'sounds good! IL-Ya! xxxx'**

triple_rainbow: **'IL-Ya too Yang xxxx'** "…but I still hate you for giving me that Oum awful name on my Scroll." The brawler's defence was that it alluded to her surname, but also how she was gay and how she could change colour. And as a bonus, having a relationship with three other people… well, two other people who just so happen to be in a relationship with a third person at the same time as you, meant the triple rainbow moniker just worked. The Faunus rolled up her mat and put it away, then stripped out of her workout gear to hit the shower before her date later that day.

* * *

Being the pair that they were, it wasn't much surprise that they were both wearing clothing that seemed slightly inappropriate for the conditions Vale was currently in weather wise. Ilia was sporting a thin casual pink shirt with a white checkerboard pattern, accompanied with a white undershirt, grey denims and some black flats, but still keeping her belt on that held her weapon. Yang had a sunflower yellow t-shirt on with her emblem in black across her left breast and a pair of black trousers and black boots, as well as her orange scarf wrapped around her neck.

Most others out at the moment were sporting thick coats and wooly gloves due to the sudden drop in temperature, but these two couldn't care. Sure, Ilia still felt the cold, but she'd spent years in Mantle with little to no way of keeping warm on a day to day basis, but her chameleon traits extended to her ability to acclimate herself to her surroundings. It helped to an extent, and as such days like this were no problem for her to focus her energy into warming her body up when she needed to.

"So did BB say why he wasn't coming?" Yang asked as they made their way down the street, Yang's fleshy left hand linked together with Ilia's right. "He didn't mention anything to me."

"Nor me," the Chameleon Faunus replied, "but part of me thinks it's just because he doesn't like the cold."

"Well, no duh! He walks around on the daily with his shirt open!"

"I don't hear you complaining," the Faunus quipped. In the time the four of them had been together, Yang's quippy and lighthearted nature seeped its way into Ilia's life, and the ex Spy became far less cynical as a result. She would crack jokes every now and again, and wouldn't wallow in self pity.

"I'm not," the blonde brawler mentioned, "if we got him to tense, you could probably grind meat on those things. But my point is he's bound to get cold if he's exposing half of his body to the elements on a daily basis."

"Also, I just don't think he likes the cold anyway. Vacuo born and raised will do that, the same way being raised in Mantle made me accustomed to the cold."

"You didn't have as much of a choice," Yang reminded her.

"I am aware," came the short and snappy reply. "I was fortunate to be blessed with the ability to somewhat control my body temperature to negate the cold. Other Faunus weren't so lucky."

"Ilia, I-"

"Lots of them died because conditions were so poor in the mines, and I wished so much that they could do what I could so that they wouldn't have to worry, wouldn't have to be cold, wouldn't be dying from the cold."

"Ilia!" Yang's raised voice brought the smaller of the two girls back from her rant. "Your skin…" Looking down at herself, the colour that greeted he wasn't the normal tan with darker spots she was used to, instead she saw scarlet red spots scattered across skin of tangerine orange. "That's a new one."

"Rage…" she admitted.

"Thought that was yellow on red, not red on orange."

"No, that's frustration or annoyance, anger at best. _This_ is pure rage. I've… not turned this colour in so long." She shifted herself back to normal, her breathing shallower than usual. "I don't want to feel like that… Not when I've come this far…"

Wanting her girlfriend to go no further, emotionally or physically, Yang near enough dragged her to the nearest bench and sat down, pulling her into a hug that wrapped her up tight, protecting her from anything.

"Let it out Ils, I'm here." She did just that. After a few minutes, Yang felt her chest and arms grow hot. "Okay, ow." The Faunus backed away from her blonde partner, shocked at her sudden outcry of pain knowing how her semblance works now.

"What happened?"

"You did. Don't know how, but you heated up so much you burnt me."

With a frustrated sigh, one that tinged her spots and eyes yellow, the ex Spy explained herself. "Your semblance manifests itself sometimes as flames, right?" The Beacon Huntress nodded. "When I'm angry, mine does something similar, but less volatile. My body heats up, hence the orange and red colours, then expels the heat later in a more controlled manner."

"Explains the burning."

"I'm sorry."

"It's fine Ils. Honestly, it's a bit of a change of pace to be on the receiving end of the sensation." The smallest of grins graced the ponytailed girl's face and Yang booped her on the nose with her index finger the second she noticed. "There's the smile I love." Initially, Ilia always believed that Yang said what she did to try and improve her mood, but as time progressed she realised that those sentiments were genuine.

"Thank you Yang."

"Ain't nothing to it. Now, let's get on with the actual date, shall we?"

* * *

 _"_ _Lisa Lavender again, reporting live from Clo Kedd on the Southern coast of Vale's border, where everything in this tiny village has come to a complete standstill. The sudden extreme snowy conditions has stopped everything from groceries to farmers, teachers to businessmen and women everywhere, and it's set to stay this way for some time. Despite their aversion to these colder conditions, citizens are reminded to remain calm and collected during these times, as Grimm can still make their ways into the cities and villages. A Level 3 weather warning has been issued, with some places even being given a Level 2 warning. Stay tuned for more."_

"I hate how this happened now," Sun mentioned, staring out at the icy blue and snowy white landscape of the once luscious green Vale landscape, "'cause I was not ready for this."

"You're not ready for _anything_ that isn't favourable conditions, you walk around shirtless," Blake commented, having looked up at her boyfriend from her book.

"I do not," he shot back, "I wear a shirt!"

"Yeah, a shirt that's unbuttoned all the way and exposes your abs to everyone. It's as close to shirtless as you can get without the authorities getting called."

"I thought you were alright with me dressing like this."

"That's not the point Sun," the Cat Faunus explained, "this isn't Vacuo. The weather varies, from hot to _really_ cold, and that sort of dress just isn't enough."

"Yeah, well I have done something about it." Blake simply looked at him with an air of irritation - swapping to a long sleeve variety of the same shirt and doing the buttons up did count as doing something by technicality, it didn't exactly count as something substantial. Blake set her book down and stared out of the window with her boyfriend, her arms encircling his waist as his tail wrapped around hers.

"We'll do something Sun, don't worry."

* * *

"What do you mean 'you can't contact them'?" Ilia demanded, pointing an accusatory at the drunken Huntsman in their midst. Qrow Branwen, to those who had a reason to fear Huntsmen, was a name synonymous with frightening efficiency in his field. If he wanted you dead, he'd make sure it would be done. As a man with rules, his work was almost as feared as the work of his sister and leader of the Bandits under her own name, Raven Branwen. Although the bandit leader's methods were far more brutal than her younger brother's.

To those who actually knew him, as Ilia now did, he was a drunk who's method of teaching everybody how to 'swim' in the wide world they live in was to 'push them in at the deep end and tell them to float'.

"It means 'I can't contact them'," he repeated. "The snow's disrupted all CCT networks, it could be a few days before we can do anything related to that."

"Yang and Blake are out there in these conditions!" It had been two days since anyone had any contact with Team RWBY, and naturally Ilia was worried about her girlfriends. The scythe wielding Huntsman stood tall, casting a shadow over the much smaller girl, trying her best to not let her skin dictate how she should be feeling.

"Funnily enough, so is Ruby and Schnee Junior. The whole team took that mission on, and I don't care what goes on behind closed doors, but when there's a team on a mission you are rooting for the _whole_ team to get back, not just a couple of individuals." His piece said, the scruffy old crow stuffed his hands in his pockets and walked away.

"When did you get such a negative outlook on life?" the Chameleon Faunus practically spat at him.

"…Bad personal experience and age." On that note, he sulked away into his room leaving Ilia, Sun and Oscar Pine, who had almost become the man that was Ozpin completely now left in the space.

"Ms. Amitola, please do not fret about my are all capable, and know when to call it quits. Ms. Rose herself has been an excellent leader ever since she embraced the ro-"

"I don't care," she said, eyes flashing red for a moment, "I want they home safe. _All_ of them."

"I understand." Seeing how distressed the Faunus girl was, the young boy left the remaining two alone.

"How could they be so selfish?" Ilia muttered under her breath, hugging her body and squeezing her arms to shift some of the anger elsewhere. "Do they not care?"

"Ilia, listen to yourself. It's like you don't even know them-"

"But I _do,_ Sun. _That_ is what is worrying me." He never did this sort of thing without the feeling that she truly needed it, but Sun crossed the distance between himself and Ilia and enveloped her in a loving and reassuring hug, and the colour shifting girl returned it.

After that conversation with Ozpin, nearly two hours passed. Ilia grew more and more worried, and even Sun was starting to panic.

"The mission shouldn't have taken them this long," he thought, tail swinging wildly behind him. "Grimm shouldn't be the issue either. So what gives?" There was a pregnant pause before Ilia stood and made her way straight to the coat rack by the door. "Ilia, what are you doing?"

"I'm going out there to look for them!" she asserted.

"Are you crazy? The weather's terrible, you'll only be putting yourself in danger!"

"I don't care about that, I care about my girlfriends' safeties and the safety of their teammates. If no one else is going to do it, I might as well."

"Let me come as well then."

"No, you need to stay here. If they come back, get them something lukewarm to drink to ease their body temperature up. Don't warm them up too fast, the sudden change in heat may put them into shock." Years of White Fang training finally being put to practical and potentially life saving use.

"If you say so," he sighed, admitting defeat.

"I will find them, I promise." Once her thick coat had been done up, she took a keycard for the door and left, hoping to find them soon. Fortunately, she timed it just right, for as walked out of the complex and down the end of the road, a voice called out to her from the other side.

"ILIA!" Even through the snow, the sight of red, black and gold locks were unmistakable. Weiss' white attire and hair made things a little more tricky to spot her, but the fact she was the one calling Ilia's attention counteracted that.

Racing across the powdery pathway to the quartet, she saw how bad things seemed to have gotten. Weiss seemed relatively unaffected by this, and the same went for Yang. But Ruby was shivering heavily, trying her best to keep warm by making her body work overtime. And with her speed, the shivers almost looked supersonic.

Worst of all was Blake. She looked much paler than usual, almost turning blue, and there was no shivering whatsoever. Yang was mostly dragging her along after her, talking to her softly and telling her to focus on her voice, keep awake, anything to maintain a conversation with the onyx haired Faunus.

"What happened?" she cried, scooping herself under Blake's other arm and easing the weight off Yang, not that the brawler seemed to mind much. Weiss spoke on behalf of everyone.

"The weather worsened so suddenly, we tried calling for an evac but nearly all the lines were down. When we got through, they said there was no way we'd be able to get anything in these conditions. So we walked."

"In this weather?!"

"It was the only thing we _could_ do, Ils," Yang backed her snowy themed teammate up, "it was that or stand still and die that way. At least with this we had a chance of getting back."

"Makes sense." The Faunus gave the once over on her girlfriend, and she seemed to be in terrible, yet savable, condition. "Ruby, how are you feeling?"

"C-c-c-can't f-f-f-feel my f-f-f-fingers," she chattered out.

"Right. Take the keycard, run back to the room and get it warm in there, not too hot. Get the kettle on and start making warm drinks with Sun, no tea or coffee though. And make sure there are plenty of blankets around." The red reaper nodded and managed to grab ahold of the keycard before shooting off in a shower of petals.

In retrospect, it wasn't Ilia's greatest idea to have the speedster zooming away and throwing ice and snow all over them, but now wasn't exactly the time to be worrying about herself, Blake needed attention and she needed it five minutes ago.

The four of them got to the apartment and were greeted by a much warmer Ruby and Sun, both ready and waiting. Ruby handed Blake a cup of hot honey, lemon and ginger, whilst Sun huddled her in blankets.

"Make sure her head is covered, only leave her face exposed. We need as much heat kept in as possible." The team did just that, taking the Faunus' words to heart and following through with them with precision accuracy. Within a few minutes, Blake was sat on a cushion on the floor, cocooned in a blanket with only her hands and face exposed, a heater on halfway across the room to passively heat the area without it directly warming her - apparently doing that could do more harm than good.

"I take it you learnt a lot of that in the White Fang?" Weiss asked, she and Ilia sitting apart from the main group looking after Blake.

The freckled girl shook her head sadly. "No, this came from working with my parents in the Dust Mines of Mantle." Weiss gasped, realising where the conversation may be heading.

"Did… did they…"

"Do you remember the incident at those mines about six years ago?"

"How could I forget? Lots of people lost their lives that day."

"…My parents were in that mine." Not for the first time, Weiss found herself lost for words. That was her friend's parents in a place that _her_ father had condemned.

"I'm… I don't know what to say."

"It's fine, I-"

"But it's not. My father sentenced a lot of Faunus to death in those mines, and I did nothing. What was worse, I was _glad_ that it happened. 'The less filthy Faunus there are, the better.'" The Chameleon girl couldn't believe what she was hearing. Her spots and eyes burnt with a crimson hatred for the Schnee. "How could you live a life thinking like that all the time? I apologise for how I acted before, even though I assume it never affected you much directly. My family were… _are_ horrendous to Faunus, but having spent so much time around them myself, I know that you are just like us. To think of you as anything less is wrong. Please, accept my honest apology and condolences."

The freckled girl scoffed, earning a disapproving look from ice blue eyes. "If anyone had told me that I would receive a personal apology from a Schnee two years ago, one I would call _friend_ , I would have called them crazy. Thank you Weiss."

"You're welcome."

"It's crazy, two years ago I would have done anything to be this close to you. It'd make the kill so much easier." Weiss' eyes widened at how open she was about it, but played along because she didn't feel like dragging the conversation down any more.

"I mean, I have a brother who I'd trade places with in a heartbeat, if you're still offering." It was Ilia's turn to be shocked this time, her skin paling again, and the reaction got a cute little snigger from the ex Heiress.

 **~000~**

"How're you holdin' up, Blakey?"

"H-honestly? Being able to hold co-conversation is nice." She was shivering now, so at least her body was fighting back against the cold, and she could talk again because not all of her internal efforts were focussing on keeping her alive anymore. With a sip from her cup, now filled with some jasmine tea, she sighed as the drink slid its way down her throat and warmed her core. "And w-warm drinks are a bonus." The two young Huntresses turned at the sound of their door opening, greeted by the sight of Sun and Ilia entering.

"Weiss and Ruby have headed back to your place," Sun mentioned as he shut the door behind him, "said that they're gonna go through and write the mission report together."

"We need to thank them for that somehow," Yang commented to Blake, who nodded in understanding.

"Hey, Ilia?" the Cat Faunus said. The smaller Faunus swivelled her head to the sound, and was beckoned over to sit down wordlessly. Once she did, Blake draped an arm around her and pulled her in for a long kiss.

"What was that in aid of?" she asked breathlessly, a small smile on her face after they broke the kiss.

"For saving my life," Blake responded. "No one else was really in the right state of mind to think about everything you did so carefully."

"I've had to deal with that sort of thing more times than I dare to remember, so it came almost as a natural response."

"Good thing too," Yang added, "the natural response thing, not the number of times you've had to do that. Just wanted that to be clear. But yeah, I was freaking out with what was going to happen to both her and Rubes. Weiss was alright, 'cause she's from Atlas and even said herself that this is weather she's used to, but you two aren't use to it at all."

"But how's you even get in that position?" Sun inquired. With an exhale and a head shake, Blake sat her drink down and explained.

"You know the mission we had was to take out a few Grimm, easy enough. What they didn't tell us was that, because of the weather, the Bullheads would only take us so far to the mission zone."

"Weiss was _not_ happy, and she wasn't thrilled about the mission to begin with."

"We had to hike for nearly two hours around the lake to get where we needed to go, so when it came to our mission we were already exhausted from the journey. Fortunately, it was never that difficult. Unfortunately, things got worse. The region we were in got hit with the second wave of the cold winds and snow, so we rightly surmised that getting vehicular evac was out of the question."

"Please tell me you didn't hike all the way back," Sun exclaimed, having put the pieces together and figured where the story was going.

"Sorry…"

"No wonder you were nearly dead when I found you out there, that's a good few hours away on a Bullhead."

"I know Ils, but it was either walk and be away from the elements sooner, or stay out in the cold indefinitely and die." Ilia huffed, knowing the brawler was right in that regard.

"We honestly didn't anticipate the walk to take as long as it eventually, nor did we expect a couple of stray Grimm encounters along the way to halt our progress. I knew I was getting bad, but because of how bad the snow was coming down we couldn't rush to get away from it any faster. And by the time we could, I found speaking hard." The Chameleon Faunus clenched her fist into a hard ball, wishing there was more she could have done.

"Tell ya what I can do now though," Yang mentioned, standing up from the group. Slamming her fists together, blonde hair erupted in flames and the heat of the room spiking. "Who wants a cuddle?" she invited with literal open arms.

Immediately, the two other girls rose to their feet and wrapped their arms around the walking fireplace of their girlfriend, pulling her back down to the ground and letting her hit it hard. The action helped give her semblance an extra few ticks of juice to see them through. With a shrug, Sun found a way to slither into the cuddle puddle as well, positioning himself so that Blake was sandwiched between himself and Yang.

Any trace of chill that the four had prior to this moment was gone as the combined efforts of seven people's body heat - one for Sun, one for Blake, one for Ilia and Yang's semblance doing the work of four - helped eliminate that once and for all, and left them all extremely snug, warm and content.

* * *

So yeah, being a Brit who's only really ever left the country a handful of times (and only once being to someplace colder than here) this weather is abismal for someone like me. So I imagined what that sort of thing would be like for the quartet, whilst also introducing Ruby and Weiss into the mix somewhat.

As always, feedback - good or bad - is most appreciated


End file.
